Antiferromagnetic skyrmions and skyrmion density wave in a Rashba-coupled Hund insulator

We discover magnetic phases hosting highly elusive and technologically important antiferromagnetic skyrmion quasiparticles in a model for a Rashba-coupled Hund insulator. The results are based on unbiased simulations of a classical superexchange model derived, in this work, from a realistic microscopic electronic Hamiltonian. We also discover a skyrmion density wave ground state characterized by a $(Q,Q)$ modulation in the local skyrmion density map. A unique inhomogeneous state characterized by a circular pattern in the spin structure factor and filamentary real-space textures is identified as the parent of sparse antiferromagnetic skyrmions. We predict that the magnetic states reported here can be realized in thin films of multiorbital systems involving $4d$ or $5d$ transition metals.